Bedding in the duck run?

[localife]

Oooh, that's good to know as I eventually want a nigerian dwarf goat!

for Nigerian Dwarfs! I have a whether, Brownie, who is the cutest goat in the world, and two very small Oberhalsi does -- as with the ducks, I find it is impossible to be anything but entertained by their outrageous personalities!

 

[Gigglebox]

Ok, pardon my ignorance (and i mean no rudeness), but why keep a wether? And on a side note,what's with all the different names for castrated animals?! Neutered, gelding, wether....can't we call them all "ball-less" and move on? Lol

I'm super excited to eventually have a goat, even if their eyes do creep me out...are your does producing milk?

 

[madamiec]

The point of a goat weather is to grow it out for meat or keep as a pet...

 

[localife]

Actually, whethers are great for weed abatement, as they don't have the nutritional needs of lactating does, they don't have heat cycles, and they don't need to be fattened up for eating. And when they are Nigerian Dwarf whethers, they are cute as all get out, too!

I have no idea why the word "whether" -- yes, there do seem to be a lot of different words for the same thing in different species....go figure! I suppose castrated works for everyone.

 

[Gigglebox]

*face palm* for some reason the whole eating them thing didn't even cross my mind.

Localife, you didn't mention of your does are producing i'm just curious as to how much you get from them. Also, to bring this back around to ducks, do they coexist well?

 

[Mrs.H]

I have 2 pet wethers! Goats are great, full of personality, and sometimes trouble makers gotta love them tho

 

[localife]

*face palm* for some reason the whole eating them thing didn't even cross my mind.

Localife, you didn't mention of your does are producing

i'm just curious as to how much you get from them. Also, to bring this back around to ducks, do they coexist well?

I haven't bred the does yet -- they were really small and I wanted them to have more time to reach their mature size. As for co-existing with ducks, I wouldn't think they would be a good match for actually sharing space, because goats are pretty finicky about their water being clean and their hooves stay in best shape under dry conditions, but it would depend on the nature of your situation. If they all had lots of space, and the goat water was up too high for ducks to muck up it might work.

In my case, I house everyone near each other, and I rotate them through each others' spaces, but I don't house them or pasture them together if for no other reason than my goats sometimes randomly decide it is fun to watch poultry freak out and they'll just spontaneously run after them for sport. Crazy, ornery beasts, but I do love them -- the goats and the ducks just make me laugh....

 

[jaylilsmom]

Glad I looked this up I have been looking for the best solution to our duck muck problem and I do believe this is it lol

 

[ChristyPogue]

I'm SO glad I found this thread! We have 5 ducks and 2 geese and their run is stinking REALLY bad

!! We've had an unusually high amount of rain over the last 3 - 4 weeks...that coupled with 2 broody geese and 1 broody duck who save their poops up for a couple of CRAZY MASSIVE, STINKY poops a day has me in fits! I had a nice layer of hay/straw over the ground but I was told that would mold easily and make my birds sick...

... so I cleaned it out leaving just the dirt in the run. BIG MESS! So can I go ahead and put a layer of straw/hay down over this wet, stinky mess in hopes that it will help dry it out? Any advice is GREATLY appreciated Thank yall so much.

 

[Amiga]

Lack of air causes stink. Water pushes out air.

Our strategy is to have the pen on a 2% incline - not steep, but enough for water to run off. It runs into a shallow channel that leads to a garden bed. You should see how much the plants love that duck pen water! Wow! The comfrey that got the water for the past two months is twice the size of the comfrey that did not.

Anyway, you might consider getting some coconut coir (comes in dry bricks, you add water to fluff it out) since it is nice and stiff and should have some air spaces. I use chopped straw also. Oak leaves have proven really nice - they seem to get rid of stink in wet poopy areas (sometimes the area around the swim pans gets ungraded).